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April 16, 2004 12:15 PM, EDT

Industrial production in the United States decline 0.2% in March, according to a report by the Federal Reserve released Friday.

The first decline in 10 months, the Fed said in its report.

The drop in production, the Fed said, was due to declines in automobile production and warmer weather that depressed utility output.

Trucking can suffer when industrial production slips because the industry relies on factory production for large portions of its business.

Production of automobiles and parts fell 2.2% in March. Excluding these factors, factory output rose 0.1% during the month.

In the industrial production report, the Fed said that capacity usage fell to 76.5% in March from 76.7% the previous month.